China Blasts Dalai Lama 'Suicide Plots'

Chinese authorities are accusing the Dalai Lama of organizing suicide attacks, building an arsenal of weapons and explosives in Tibetan monasteries, and plotting to disrupt the Beijing Olympics. The fresh allegations come in the wake of last month's raging protests in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and China's violent response.

"The next plan of the Tibetan independence forces is to organize suicide squads," charged a Beijing spokesman, who claimed authorities have discovered caches of weapons and dynamite in monasteries. "They claim they fear neither bloodshed nor sacrifice."  A senior aide of the Dalai Lama dismissed the accusations. "The Chinese are trying to portray that we Tibetans are instigating violence. We strongly deny these allegations," he said. (More China stories.)